Parking spaces are known that do not have parking bumpers, yet it would be desirable and advantageous to be able to place signs or advertisements in these spaces. Attempts to provide signs in parking areas vary in design. For instance, there exists ground-mounted devices that do not have interchangeable signs and are rigid such that they could cause damage to a vehicle if hit or run over. There are also promotion distribution systems known that distribute promotions based on where a user has parked which allows merchants to target promotions remotely to where someone parks. Advertising devices and systems consisting of signs adhered to the road, parking space or on a wall also exist. Known devices such as these are either too complicated, susceptible to damage due to inclement weather, vehicle drips and animal droppings and are not easily interchangeable.
A variety of parking space sign systems are known in the background art. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 8,250,795, issued to Barbieri et al., discloses a ground-mounted device for presenting a message consisting of a ground-mounted base, a cover and one or more panels. U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,065, issued to Koplewicz, discloses an electrically operated parking indicator having a hanging arm with a signaling means, such as a light bulb, that indicates the proper position of a vehicle being parked when the arm is actuated by vehicle causing the light bulb to illuminate. U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,807, issued to Kang, discloses an automobile parking guide in the shape of a stop sign that pivots and assists a driver in parking a vehicle in a garage so as to consistently leave the same space between the vehicle and a wall. U.S. Publication No. 2011/0270669 discloses a parking locator system having one or more parking sensors and one or more parking kiosks. U.S. Publication No. 2011/0015934 discloses parking promotion distribution system that distributes promotions based on where a user has parked and includes a one or more parking locators that detect the presence of a vehicle within a vicinity, a repository server and a kiosk for retrieving promotions. U.S. Publication No. 2010/0153311 discloses planar parking area advertising system having a portion of delineated portions that include a substantially planar advertising portion and is placed on the ground so the advertising is perpendicular to the pair of parallel parking lines and between opposing ends of the parking lines. U.S. Publication No. 2010/0131370 discloses a public and private road advertising system for ground surfaces that consists of a non-slip material affixed to a roadway surface. U.S. Publication No. 2008/0059296 discloses a method for providing parking location identifiers wherein advertisements are received from advertisers and placed within a parking area based on the theme advertising regions. U.S. Publication No. 2007/0063873 discloses an advertising standard consisting of a base, post and advertisement displaying surface. U.S. Publication No. 2005/0229451 discloses an apparatus for parking space advertising consisting of a sign and post. The foregoing parking space advertising devices and systems present the problems and shortcomings in the background art that the instant invention is intended to overcome.
Accordingly, existing devices and systems for advertising or placing signs in parking spaces do not adequately address or resolve the issues in the background art. Therefore, there exists a need for a parking space advertising or sign system that resolves these issues. It is, therefore, to the effective resolution of the aforementioned problems and shortcomings of the prior art that the present invention is directed. The instant invention addresses this unfulfilled need in the prior art by providing an advertising system for parking spaces as contemplated by the instant invention disclosed herein.